Don't have an account?

Two prominent appellate courts have ruled in two unrelated privacy cases and dealt dual blows to privacy. A New York state appeals court said that Facebook had no right to resist coughing up extensive details about what its users are saying, while a federal appeals court said that anyone who unintentionally telephones someone -- a pocket-dial, sometimes known a bit more impolitely -- can't expect the listener to not listen and use the information.

Organizations are looking to manage their Apple Macs along side their existing Windows systems using existing tools already used in enterprises like Microsoft's System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM). Parallels (the maker of virtual machine technology that has allowed Mac users to run Windows guest sessions for years) just updated their add-in to SCCM, "Parallels Mac Management 4.0" for Microsoft SCCM.

The next race for the White House is already well under way, with candidates in each party formally announcing their intention to run for the presidency on a regular basis. The issues that will dominate the political discourse as we move from the primaries to the general election have yet to be determined, although economics and economic opportunity seem to be good bets to loom large in the campaign. Of course, many interest groups will attempt to inject their key issues into the discussion about where the country is and where it should be going.

A recent finding by the California Labor Commission highlights this disconnect. The commission determined that Barbara Berwick, a San Francisco driver, was an employee of Uber rather than an independent contractor. While the decision does not set a precedent, it may be reversed by courts and might be made moot by Uber making minor changes to its standard contract, this conflict nonetheless highlights the difficulty of applying antiquated laws to new and rapidly evolving industries. Current labor laws were written at a time when large companies were regarded as permanent fixtures in the economy, workers tended to stay with one employer for many years, employees had one full-time job, and many industries were heavily unionized. Those conditions no longer exist. As a result, our laws are increasingly ineffective in giving

Sensitive data pertaining to millions of people was compromised in the data breach at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. I suspect that millions of those people smiled when they heard about the filing of a class-action lawsuit filed against the OPM. They would like some recompense for the incredible hassle that data breach caused them. And they probably want to see the OPM pay for its mistakes. Unfortunately, those smiles are probably about all they will get out of the lawsuit.

You've heard the hype: The Internet of Things (IoT) will transform the way we live and work, bring us untold benefits like cutting our utility bills and warning us when the milk has gone sour, and be the engine for the next great economic boom. McKinsey claims, for example, that the IoT could have an impact of $11.1 trillion per year by 2025 -- about 11% of the world economy, by McKinsey's estimate.

Ever since the move away from skeuomorphics in version 7, iOS has been in a state of flux -- one that many iPhone and iPad users and reviewers noted came at the expense of stability. With iOS 9 due out in public beta next month and to the general public this Spring, Apple continues refining the appearance and behavior of the software that powers the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. And just as it's doing with OS X 10.11 El Capitan, Apple is adding a variety of under-the-hood improvements and new tricks that focus on proactivity, UI refinements, and best of all, stability and performance.

Organizations should know how to budget and pay for IT products and services -- they've been doing so for more than 50 years. This is not rocket science. Unfortunately, many organizations continue to make the same mistakes year after year.

When Apple execs took the stage last week for the company's annual World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC), they covered a lot of ground -- discussing changes to iOS 9, updates to watchOS, details about the company's music-streaming plans and specifics about OS X 10.11, better known as El Capitan. All three platforms will see improvements focused on performance, privacy and refinements when they arrive later this year.

Top Whitepapers

Cloud, big data and analytics, mobile, social, and IT security have impacted networking – bringing it almost to breaking point. This whitepaper looks at the future of networking to accommodate these evolving trends.

Zones

Featured Whitepapers

If you can get the basics right, zero clients will help deliver the cost-effective user mobility and business agility that virtual desktop infrastructure promises. This whitepaper looks at how to master the fundamentals and reap the rewards of zero clients with simple centralised management.

Copyright 2015 IDG Communications. ABN 14 001 592 650. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of IDG Communications is prohibited.